Sunday, 22 January 2012

Review: A Nice Little Place - Brook Farm

God bless Twitter, that's all I can say!

The mister and I need a pre- Xmas break away to a small part of the country the we hadnt yet experienced, and after a few independent reviews through some twitter friends, we had a booking made for 2 nights at Brook Farm In Shropshire. (Thank you so much Deepa and Karen for the recommendation!)

Before we had even left Cambridge, Sarah, the lovely owner of this gorgeous Bed and breakfast had tweeted me telling me that she would have hot crumpets by the fire waiting for us on arrival should we desire...oh my... This offer of little treats before we had even checked in was just a small insight into what we were gaining with this booking.

Driving through the Shropshire Countryside was noticeable right away and being a farm girl growing up, I felt right at home driving past all the beautiful green, sheep-filled fields and pretty chocolate box cottages and old farmhouses. The scenery was just stunning and it was so refreshing to be somewhere new and ready to be explored.

The satnav naturally took us around the houses, but we eventually found this huge and most welcoming bed and breakfast. Sarah and her 2 lovely dogs greeted us at the front gate, along with her brood of chickens (don't leave the front door open or they will cheekily let themselves in for a nosey hehe!) and 4 cats all curled up around the stunning fireplace in the entrance lounge area. Sarah told us that she had placed a couple of restaurant and pub table bookings for us in case we wanted to eat and if we didnt want them, no problem at all (wow, just so thoughtful) and she showed us around and then left us to go and tend to her two cheeky donkeys (who we fell in love with throughout our stay!)

The two lounges within Brook Farm both had real roaring fires and as we had the place to ourself this weekend, we had our own lounge to use and curl up, even given access to her personal library of books which covered an entire wall of the cottage. We were also provided with a beautiful tea and coffee station and various flavoured gins and whiskeys should we desire a tipple or two. How on earth could anybody resist in this truly beautiful cottage? It's a home away from home.

Our bedroom was bigger than the entire first floor of our own house, and we had so much space we didn't know what to do with it hehe. The bed was bliss, the bed is the first thing I judge as its my very favourite place to be curled up and I can honestly say I didn't want to leave this one both mornings that I woke up in it. Sarah's thoughtfulness extended hour by hour, from offering us a cup of tea left outside our bedroom in the morning along with a gentle knock on the door for our alarm, and she even home baked our very first batch of mince pies and left them by the fire In a cake dome wrapped with ribbon. We were beyond lucky with her hospitality, we truly were.

The area was also filled with fantastic charity and antique shops and I spent my pennies and endless trips to the car unloading bags of teacups, saucers, teapots, teaspoons and even a gramophone and records for my Secluded Tea Parties! It was an aladins cave of afternoon tea treats for me and I was in tea party heaven!

The accommodation and hospitality was superb and the breakfast selection was huge and varied to say the least. We had a choice of freshly baked bread, crumpets, yoghurt and honey, fresh fruit, cereal and an array of cooked breakfast choices from porridge to a full English. You could easily fuel for the rest of the day on the offerings at Brook Farm and we certainly did just that, enjoying some lovely pub meals in the evening if and when we fancied it. This was by far the best choice we could have made for our much needed get away and we will be returning for some peace and quiet next time we need it!

Brook Farm Bed and Breakfast was most certainly a nice little place, in fact it was a wonderful little place and we will be returning one day very soon : )

Read The Secluded Tea Party's Guestbook...

Introducing... The Secluded Tea Party Travelling Venue!

Why Not Book a Home or Garden or even an After-Work Pop-Up Tea Party in my Travelling Tea Party Venue! Contact me for more information and a chat about the endless possibilities! We Can suggest booking for Civilised Hen Parties, Birthday Parties, Children's After School Tea Parties, "Ladies Wot Do Lunch" Tea Parties, Baby Showers, Sweet 16th, 18th, even 21st & 30th Birthdays, all served with beautiful vintage mis-matching china, Home-made Afternoon Tea Treats made & served by Miss Sue Flay.

VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE

Latest Blog Posts

My Press Clippings...

The Legal Blurb....

All photographs are my own work (Unless noted with permission from the owners) and should not be used without my permission.

Some recipes here are my own work. It is obvious from reading my Blog whether it is an original recipe, whether it is a previously published recipe from another cook or another source, or whether I have made enough adaptations to a previously published recipe to be able to call the result my own work.

If any of my cooking inspires you to try it (And I really hope that it does!), or make something similar, then please do me the courtesy of acknowledging your source, and linking to the relevant post, as I do for others.